funnel

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English fonel, also funell,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old Occitan fonilh,^[5][6][7][8] probably through an unrecorded Old French *founil,^[2][9][3] from Late Latin fundibulum, a shortening of īnfundibulum (“a funnel, a hopper in a mill”),^[3][10][11] from īnfundō (“to pour in”), formed from in- (“in”) and fundō (“to pour”).^[3][12][11] The OED takes the modern dialect forms Occitan founil and enfounilh as corrupt borrowings of the Latin word, perhaps familiar from its use in pharmacy, and thinks Spanish fonil and Portuguese funil may also come from Provençal;^[2][10] the Old French form survives in Breton founil.^[2][9] Skeat and Weekley explain the southern route by the Bordeaux wine trade, the usual word in French being entonnoir.^[13][14][10] The Latin verb is also the source of found (to cast metal), foundry and fuse.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

A cone-shaped vessel with a short tube at its point, for pouring liquid into a narrow opening: 1402–03, in a Durham account roll.^[2][10] The Shorter Oxford notes that it was used originally especially for wine.^[9]

Semantic evolution

From the pouring vessel the name passed to things of similar shape or use: a tube or shaft for light or ventilation, and the metal chimney of an engine or steamship (1555),^[2] the flue of a chimney (1688), a funnel-shaped organ in anatomy and zoology (1712), a funnel-shaped opening in rocks (1774), and the narrowing net of a duck decoy (1774).^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as an inverted hollow cone with a pipe for pouring liquors into narrow-mouthed vessels, and traced it to the Latin word by way of fundible and fundle.^[15] The verb appears in 1594, in Nashe's Unfortunate Traveller, of smoke rising in a funnel-shaped cloud;^[2][10] the modern sense, to guide or move through a narrow channel, is recorded from 1901, in Kipling's Kim.^[2] Slang used funnel for the throat, as early as Blackmore (1713).^[16]

Timeline

• 1402–03 – a cone-shaped vessel for pouring liquids.^[2][10]
• 1555 – a ventilation shaft; later, the chimney of an engine or ship.^[2]
• 1594 – verb, of smoke, to rise in a funnel-shaped cloud.^[2][10]
• 1688 – the flue of a chimney.^[2]
• 1712 – a funnel-shaped organ in anatomy and zoology.^[2]
• 1774 – a funnel-shaped opening in rock; the channel of a duck decoy.^[2]
• 1901 – verb, to guide or move through a narrow channel.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A utensil shaped like a hollow cone ending in a narrow tube, used to pour liquids or powders into a container with a small opening.^[7][6][2]
2. Something shaped like a funnel or serving as one, such as a narrow channel.^[7][6]
3. The smokestack of a steamship or locomotive.^[7][2]
4. A shaft or tube for ventilation or light.^[7][2]
5. In anatomy and zoology, a funnel-shaped organ, such as the swimming funnel of a cephalopod.^[6][2]

Verb

1. To move or pour through a funnel, or as if through one: The crowd funnelled through the narrow gate.^[7][6][2]
2. To direct or concentrate something, such as money or effort, toward one point: The charity funnels donations to local schools.^[7][6]
3. To take the shape of a funnel; to narrow.^[6]

Word family

• funnellike
• funnelform
• funnel cake
• funnel cloud

Related words

• infundibulum
• found
• foundry
• fuse

Usage notes

In Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and Warwickshire dialect, funnel (also fummel) was a hybrid of horse and ass, a hinny or mule;^[17][6] the OED derives it probably from fummle, a variant of fumble in the sense "to be sexually impotent", and Merriam-Webster calls its origin unknown.^[2][6]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
11. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
12. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
13. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
14. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
17. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)